Emily Dickinson Lexicon

current (-'s), n. [OFr.] (webplay: running, water).

Flow; stream; flood; running water; discernible motion in a body of water; air moving in a definite direction.

Currer, proper n. [OFr currier, a leather dresser; see Bell, Currer.]

First name in Charlotte Brontë's acrostic pseudonym; married surname of Brontë's neighbor Frances Mary Richardson Currer of Easton Hall, known for her library.

curricle, n. [L. curricul-um, running, course, race-chariot < curr-ere, run.]

Vehicle; mode of transportation; light two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.

curtail (-ed), v. [originally curtal.] (webplay: rights).

Lessen; shorten; reduce; diminish; truncate; hide; cut off; keep from view.

curtain (-s), n. [ME cortine < L. cortīna, curtain.] (webplay: bed, end, open, stand).

1. Covering; screen; cloth window-covering; piece of material suspended by the top that can be withdrawn to the side; [fig.] division between life and death.
2. Drape; [fig.] mist; fog; cloud bank.
3. Sheet; [fig.] current of submarine water; anything that keeps one emotionally detached.

curtness, adj. [L. curt-us, cut or broken short, mutilated, abridged.]

Terseness; abruptness; bluntness; shortness; brusque manner; communication so brief as to be wanting in courtesy; [fig.] cawing; raucous bird call.

curve, n. [L. curv-us, bending, curved, crooked.]

Bend; twist; turn; [fig.] challenge; level; unknown thing.

curve (-ed), v. [L. curva-re, to crook; see curve, adj.]

Bend; turn; change course.

cushion (-s), n. [ME < L. cubitas, elbow.]

Pillow; cloth enclosure stuffed with a soft elastic material.

cushion (-s), v. [ME < L. cubitāl, elbow-cushion.]

Soften; protect; lessen; deaden the impact.